Oh, did I say thank you… I ment to say THANK YOU!!!

How do I say ‘Thank You’ and really mean it… this is a question I have thought on, a lot, and here’s what I’ve come up with!

Before I wrote my very first blog, one piece of tutorial advice that I received was to read the comments on the posts to see what they have to say. You might say, ‘yeah, well duh obviously’, but what the tutorial was saying is, don’t just read the comments, assess them to see if they are genuine. If the information in the comment is correct… if it mentions specifics within the article, if it offers thoughts related to the content… then the comment is probably genuine.

But if it’s just a general, ‘hey, nice blog’ and ‘ by the way, check out this link to my discount shoe emporium’, it’s definitely spam.

Thank You’s work exactly the same way. People can smell the spam a mile away.

Very Superstitious, Writing’s on the Wall!

Stevie Wonder

I thought I would continue my thoughts on working with actors… this time with some good old fashioned wives’ tales involved!

Am I superstitious, sure, aren’t we all in a little way.  I always follow the rules of:

Don’t open an umbrella in the house (or the costume truck)! (by the way this isn’t a superstition in Korea!).

SHIT FIRE AND SAVE THE MATCHES!

The other day on set, our actress yelled, ‘Shit fire and save the matches!’ in the middle of a scene.  Nope, that wasn’t her line… she had fumbled her actual line a few times in a row and was getting frustrated with herself.

It was funny!  I almost cracked up in my hiding place behind a lighting flag.

I was reminded of this yesterday after reading a blog by the Anonymous Production Assistant.  Kendra wrote in and asked the Anonymous PA about how to talk to and deal with actors on set.  Anonymous wrote a great response about how a production assistant could approach dealing with cast.

FROM THE KNICKERS OUT

by guest blogger Michael Bruce Adams

Identify… Embellish… Transform… Transcend

Breaking Bad 1

Every decision we make, from the construct of the largest set piece to the addition of the tiniest of details, has a psychological impact on our audience. Every decision we make either brings our audience deeper into the story or pushes them away.

This means whether we are costumers, directors or writers… we are all storytellers. Storytellers connect human beings by creating universal experiences that we can all relate to… soul to soul.

Dawn Leigh Climie very graciously allowed me to be guest blogger this week, I suspect primarily because she is up to her armpits in mud and bug spray on her current show. But as a screenwriter, I hope to take up the challenge and do her proud.

“If it’s a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on.”

Alfred Hitchcock

 

 

Standing on set and watching the scene is just one part of the job as On Set Costumer.

Being able to see the monitors can sometimes be difficult due to either the location or the amount people around them. I often try to stand behind/near the cameras while rolling; this allows me to watch the entire action and what the actors do during the scene.

Work it, baby, work it!

My blogs are often focused on the newer costumer. This one is for all Costumers, new and experienced, that want to keep up-to-date.

As said in a previous blog I started out before cell phones, pagers and computers. When a job came into town I drove over to the production office, well dressed, and handed in an résumé. The paper was carefully thought out to try and make my résumé stand out from the rest. When it was said to go cream I went crisp white, I used a heavier paper… anything that made mine a little different. Now the field has been levelled. All resumes are emailed in and either forwarded or printed on standard printer paper. So how is it that you get an edge?

Why did the Costumer Cross the Road?

Because Locations told them too!

Sweet little orange arrows guiding me to work

It all starts at the very beginning of our day. While driving in the pre dawn dark I am happy to see the glow of their little orange arrows sitting snuggly tied to a post on the side of the road directing me to the safety of set. I wonder at their ability to conquer the hours they have to work to set tents up, have chairs in place and tables to eat at. They lay wooden walk ways on the rain soaked ground, make sure that the actors, directors and producer have heaters close by to keep them comfy during shooting and are the general dogsbodies of every kind of shooting prep that is needs to be done on and off of the set. The Locations Department… a costumer’s best friend!

B IS FOR…

BULLET HIT

One of the things that I go over with my blood class students is the ins and outs of working with bullet hits or “squibs”. We as costumers do not build the bullet hits, but we do have to work very closely around them when they are in the costumes. Bullet hits contain small explosives… understanding our responsibilities when working with them and the structure of squibs takes some of the worry out of having to deal with them.